Was America founded as a Christian Nation?

I was recently was talking with multiple people about the recent supreme count justice nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch. And the thought came up that we should know what his religion is. What does he practice in his personal life because it would surly play into his decisions on the bench.

Then with this same group of people we were discussing weather this county was founded as a Christian country, or rather was it founded by Christian men. And their was a spirited debate. I was of the field of thinking that this country was founded by Christian men, rather then founded as a Christian nation.

My very first thought was that if these men wanted to found a Christian country, the founding fathers would not have put an amendment in the constitution saying that any person could practice any religion. Because if they wanted a Christian nation, then they would have said to follow the Bible. And at the beginning of this country, it was much less of a diverse country. Founded by mostly white British men, who were Christian. So I am from the mindset that the United States of America was founded by Christian men, however they did not found a Christian country.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most influential founding fathers in the history of the United States. However in the year 1820, Thomas Jefferson cut the parts out of the Bible that he agreed with, and pasted them into a single 84 page book, and he followed that as his scriputre. “Jefferson produced the 84-page volume in 1820 — six years before he died at age 83 — bound it in red leather and titled it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. He had pored over six copies of the New Testament, in Greek, Latin, French and King James English.” (Edwards). If this was what the people wanted to follow as far as leadership, this nation would be called a heretical nation. Because if we completely disregard parts of the Bible as truth, then we would be called heretics.

Also I believe that it is interesting because if the founding fathers wanted a Christian nation, they would have stayed in England because the monarchy would state what the religion of the country was. Because what the monarchy believed is the right way to run things. And they all had Christian values and religion types. So why would they chase a different country to make a country a Christian one? “In short, while America did not have a Christian Founding in the sense of creating a theocracy, its Founding was deeply shaped by Christian moral truths. More important, it created a regime that was hospitable to Christians, but also to practitioners of other religions” (Hall). I believe that this article says it best when it states “deeply shaped by Christian values”. I believe he said it best because it was founded by Christian men, but not as a Christian nation.

I think the book had an interesting point of view on what religion is. Google states that religion is “he belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” And I believe this definition does a good job of showing that religion has a lot to do with worship. It shows that we are submissive to a God, or a divine being. However I feel there is much more that. I feel that there is a whole different part to religion, the one that talks about getting to know what you believe. Studying and deepening the way that someone understands what they believe. And this is something that I believe the book understands.

There is something else I believe the book got spot on. And thats talking about the problems we have within the church. “As members of the church universal, all of us must share the responsibility for bringing the demands of the gospel to bear on our day-to-day world. And there is much to do. Through research, study, and prayer we can become aware of the problems that the gospel must address.” (Grunlan 262). I think this is the best way to talk to the church today because it shows us that we are doing God’s work, and are doing right. However it also shows us that we have things that we need to work on as the church. And I think it hints at the fact that the church needs to step up.

And I think that the times were very similar from now to the 1700’s because I think the times were changing, weather it was for the better or for worse. And at the time the change looked for the worse, by a lot. But the thought was what if? And they came to the “new world”. This time in the world there is a lot of change happening in the way we think, and the way we act especially toward the government. The majority of americans are mad at the way things are being run. Just like what was happening during the revolution.

Another huge similarity from the revolution to now is there is somewhat of an awakening going on currently, however I feel that the current awakening is very different in the fact its really not an awakening, its more of a heretical awakening. People are individualizing the way we look at the Bible, and picking out what they want to follow and kind of ignoring the other parts of the Bible that they dont agree with. Just like Thomas Jefferson did in the early 1800’s. And also I would say that no matter what time period it is, there will always be people who will want to change the way the Bible is viewed, and there will be the way people will change the way they want to view the Bible.

Also I think it is a very interesting thing that the founding fathers saw it fit to separate church and state. That is a huge reason that I believe that the founding fathers wanted to make it so this country was strictly not founded as a Christian nation. Because if they wanted it to be a Christian nation, then they would have just made the rules, what they are in the Bible. For example we could have been like Saudi Arabia, and the way they use Sharia Law. The way they use the law is whatever the Koran the says. So if someone steals something in Saudi Arabia, they will loose their hand, because that is what it states in the Koran. So if we wanted to use something like this in the United States, we would use something like, women are not allowed to be pastors. We would say that because 1 Timothey 2:11–12 states “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” I think this would be the way that a Christian government would look. I say that because there are not really any countries that have a system like this.

In conclusion I believe that the United States of America was founded by Christian men, and not as a Christian nation. And there are many different reasons for this. First is that the founding fathers would have made this nations laws, the Christian rules that we follow. But they didnt do that, they just followed the way they wanted to make a nation. And they wanted to make it free, as free as possible, rather then being hampered down by religious law. Another reason is that they would not have left England if they wanted a religious Christian nation because England wanted a nation that was purly a Christian one. They would do that whenever they changed rulers because they wanted everyone to be into one singular state religion. And I think it would be interesting to see the united states as a Christian nation because we would have a lot less problems if that was the case. However we would run into a lot of other problems if we wanted to make it a Christian nation. And I am thankful that I as a Christian get to live in a country in which I am allowed to worship freely between any other religion.

Grunlan, Stephen A., and Milton Reimer. Christian perspectives on sociology. Grand Rapids: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001. Print.

Edwards, Owen. “How Thomas Jefferson Created His Own Bible.”Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 01 Jan. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

Hall, Mark David. “Did America Have a Christian Founding?” The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.